It was certainly an up and down week for the Bay Area's two NFL teams and that is likely to be reflected in the weekly NFL power rankings that will be coming out shortly. The Raiders dropped a tough one to the Miami Dolphins at home, while the 49ers went on the road and snatched a key Monday Night Football victory over the Arizona Cardinals. The question is how much will the media take from these two games.
In looking at the Raiders loss, it hurts not only because of the playoff implications, but also because the Raiders were in this game through three quarters and had a chance to win it. The Dolphins ran away with things in the fourth quarter, but if the Oakland offense had shown any consistency they probably could have pulled this one out. That has to be the most frustrating thing for Raiders fans. I'd imagine the Raiders will see a drop of five or six spots in most rankings
The 49ers pulled out a must-win game against the Arizona Cardinals last night and will benefit in the rankings. The question is how much they should benefit from a victory against a very bad team. The Cardinals seem to be close to giving up at this point and the 49ers took advantage of that. The question now is whether they can actually build on that. After beating the Rams at Candlestick the 49ers were then shut out by the Bucs and lost the momentum of a two-game win streak. Now they get a chance to build on their momentum as they head out to Green Bay for a tough game against the Packers. I'd imagine the 49ers will climb two or three spots at most with this week's victory.